In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012, both Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods announced they would stop the sale of assault rifles, if only temporarily. Fast forward just over 5 years when moments ago Dick’s - one of the nation’s largest sports retailers - said that it is immediately ending sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores, according to the NYT which adds that "the announcement, made two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff members, is one of the strongest stances taken by corporate America in the national gun debate. It also carries symbolic weight, coming from a prominent national gunseller."

The retailer also said that it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines and that it would not sell any gun to anyone under 21 years of age, regardless of local laws.

Edward Stack, the 63-year-old chief executive of Dick’s whose father founded the store in 1948, is deliberately steering his company directly into the storm, making clear that the company’s new policy was a direct response to the Florida shooting.

“When we saw what happened in Parkland, we were so disturbed and upset,” CEO Edward Stack told NYT in an interview. “We love these kids and their rallying cry, ‘enough is enough.’ It got to us.”

He added, “We’re going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation.”

The company also proceeded to tweet a series of statement explaining its stance:

But thoughts and prayers are not enough. We have to help solve the problem that's in front of us. Gun violence is an epidemic that's taking the lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of America - our kids. https://t.co/J4OcB6XJnupic.twitter.com/6VoKwJe8tH

It is unclear what financial impact the decision will have on Dick’s business, the NYT notes. Neither Dick’s nor its competitor, Cabela’s, now owned by Bass Pro Shops, have broken out firearm sales in their financial reports. But last August, Dick’s shares plummeted after it said weak results from its hunting segment resulted in its missing Wall Street’s second-quarter earnings estimates.

The gun department in a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Paramus, N.J., in 2012

Stack said he hoped that conversation would include politicians. As part of its stance, Dick’s is calling on elected officials to enact what it called “common sense gun reform’’ by passing laws to raise the minimum age to purchase guns to 21, to ban assault-type weapons and so-called bump stocks, and to conduct broader universal background checks that include mental-health information and previous interactions with law enforcement.

Stack said the retailer began scouring its purchase records shortly after the identity of the suspected Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz, became known. The company soon discovered it had legally sold a gun to Mr. Cruz in November, though it was not the gun or type of gun used in the school shooting.

“But it came to us that we could have been a part of this story,’’ he said. “We said, ‘We don’t want to be a part of this any longer,’” said Mr. Stack.

Stack said Dick’s remained a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and will continue to sell a variety of sport and hunting firearms. Although he has never been a member of the N.R.A., Mr. Stack said he is, in fact, a gun owner and enjoys trapshooting clay targets.

But when it comes to selling guns to individuals under 21 years of age or stocking assault-style rifles, Mr. Stack said his company was done. “We don’t want to be a part of a mass shooting,” he said.

That decision raised rounds of discussions with top executives inside the company as well as the directors, all of whom backed the decision to take a stance, said Mr. Stack according to the NYT.

As noted above, this is not the first time Dick’s has made changes in response to a school massacre. In 2012, after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Dick’s removed assault-style rifles from its main retail stores. But a few months later, the company began carrying the firearms at its outdoor and hunting retail chain, Field & Stream.

This time, Mr. Stack said, the changes will be permanent.

As of Wednesday morning, the company said all AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles would be removed from its stores and websites.

* * *

Stack said he and his company expected there would be mixed response — including fallout — to its new policy.

“The whole hunting business is an important part of our business, and we know there is going to be backlash on this,” said Mr. Stack. “But we’re willing to accept that.” He added, “If the kids in Parkland are being brave enough to stand up and do this, we can be brave enough to stand up with them.”

And now we wait to see how much the market will reward Dick's competitors like Cabela's, which will continue selling assault weapons, now that one of their biggest competitors has decided to bow out.

There is a (convenient) connection between the Syrian gas attacks and North Korea. They dropped the headline and already had some "former military" analyst talking about it. Seems the UN found the connection.

They are REALLY pushing for all out war. Crash must be close. Really close.

If These Dicks would have simply changed their policy regarding sales of rifles without making a Yuuge political statement, I actually wouldn't be pissed at them. If a pussy doesn't want to sell a firearm that looks a certain way, that pussy shouldn't be forced to. Fair enough.

But, These Dicks, however, decided to openly lobby for the infringement of the inalienable rights of Americans.

I'll never step foot in the door of this company. Even after they apologize and retract their statements.

Gun-grabbers and their supporters are enemies of the Constitution and should be treated as such - nothing more; nothing less.

Dicks has been close to bankrupt for quite awhile. Not sure if anything they do means anything. If nothing else, I suspect this is a PR stunt to try and build more retail business since they are among the worst in the firearms business.

I am sure that its not even a blip on their sales, its a publicity stunt that I suspect was done by a Leftist in their marketing department. Its all good though, I had bought items from them from time to time. That will no longer be happening.

I wasn't in the sport business in the Sports Authority days to have an apple to apple comparison of where Dick's is on that path, but besides your customer perspective, the vendor perspective of Dick's is getting more cautious.

Here in Knoxville TN, the local Dick's sells NO GUNS, NO AMMO. They DO sell over-priced Trayvon ball supplies though. Anyway there are numerous other options for anyone wanting a gun in this area. This is a PR stunt pure and simple.

Before the Vegas and Parkland massacre, the left was totally geared to go with prepared gun control legislation and the obvious script. Yet, because in the Vegas shooting both dual-citizens, Michael Chertoff and Sheldon Adelson (OSI and Rapiscan) had billions to gain in getting state governments to buy metal detection and body scanning machines for schools and public buildings, they too became suspects on a cui bono basis at least in the independent media .

In relation to the Parkland shootings, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has met with Miami-Dade lawmakers to discuss a $500 million increase in funding for school safety measures including an increase in the number of law enforcement officers and mental health counselors, more metal detectors, and the creation of an anonymous tip line. Seems innocuous, but in any proper investigation, impartial investigators ought to check out and compare recent OSI and Rapiscan lobby efforts in Florida and in Nevada compared to other states before each shooting massacre.

Yeah, I'm guessing that one is involved too. Jews gotta jew, and there's just too much money to be made in fortifying schools. Not to mention knocking old ones down and building a few new ones, coz bullet holes, 'n shit.

I agree 100% if somebody doesn't want to exercise their freedom of speech they can shut the fuck up. Dick's on the other hand wants to "virtue signal" and miss sales estimates. It is funny how incompetent fucks always virtue signal in lieu of performance.

so be referring to an unalienable right as inalienable, you are giving the impression that its within the realm of permissible for the banksters to have purchased and transferred those rights away in some capacity.

You don't quite understand, Puppet. Dick's fully supports the second amendment. He said it right there. All he wants is “common sense gun reform "by passing laws .... to ban assault-type weapons". But he fully supports the second amendment.

Nobody seems to be able to explain what "assault" means! To me a baseball bat cold be an "assault" weapon! I have seen a person beat the crap out of someone with a 2x4 ... sounds like "assault" lumber!

North Korea has been sending supplies to Syria that could be used to produce chemical weapons, a United Nations Security Council diplomat has told CNN.

Speaking on condition of anonymity,(lulz) the diplomat said that North Korea had sent acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers to Syria. The diplomat was citing a report on North Korea authored by a UN panel of experts.

I heard marines from around here mobilized for NK in early February for a March 2 deployment. This is from the same source that confirmed the missile shot at Hawaii was real and neutralized. This person had never heard of Alex Jones or any other alternative news outlets before our conversation on these topics. Check your preps....